Learning chemistry can be a daunting task for many students including students at the middle school and high school age levels, for example. Increased engagement in chemistry topics would be beneficial for students who typically struggle with abstract concepts such as atomic bonding and how molecules are formed. Also, heightened exposure, understanding, and exploration of chemistry topics would be useful for educating children even at younger ages. It would be helpful to have tools and techniques for teaching atomic and molecular concepts which can be readily integrated into the existing curriculum of a classroom or home-based environment. An improved approach to teaching these concepts should involve allowing students to learn in a tactile, hands-on manner and helping those with different learning preferences to achieve a better level of comprehension.
In view of these issues, enhanced tools, devices, and techniques are needed for constructing and analyzing physical models which can aid in the instruction of how different elements behave and interact on an atomic and molecular level.